


After the Lawsuit

by OliviaGrove



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29716314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OliviaGrove/pseuds/OliviaGrove
Summary: Richard loves Jared but Jared doesn't love Richard. Or does he? - What happens after the arbitration. There is no girlfriend and Richard is silly.
Relationships: Jared Dunn/Richard Hendricks
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	After the Lawsuit

Richard loves Jared. It’s a fact he can’t deny. He loved him from the moment he showed up at the incubator with a bottle of champagne. He was too afraid to acknowledge it, hoping that ignoring him would make the others think he had absolutely no interest in Jared. It did not work on anybody except Jared. Which was the opposite effect of what he wanted. And now it’s too late because apparently, Jared’s back on the market. He took himself off the market? For Pied Piper? And Richard never stood a chance anyway because Jared’s going out with girls. He’s not stupid, Richard knows what the others think about his relationship with Jared. He started to believe the whispers too. Jared never caters to the other guys like he does to him. Jared doesn’t know their dietary restrictions or their medical problems. He held inside his chest a sliver of hope that Jared had feelings for him. It fizzles out when Jared starts bringing girls to the incubator when he sees socks and ties on his door handle. He works only in his office, coding like his life depends on it And maybe it does. Who knows? 

And then Gavin Belson’s lawsuit comes and he’s in a world of trouble. He doesn’t even think about Jared until his lawyer brings up an e-mail he sent to Bighead about having a girlfriend. How can he lie and say he had a girlfriend when he’s barely kissed a girl? Maybe Jared can give him some pointers. Ugh. Just thinking about him and all the girls he’s fucking makes his head hurt and his stomach hurt and suddenly all the bones in his body hurt and he’s rushing off to the bathroom. If Jared were here he would rub his back and make him tea and tell him to take deep breaths. But Jared’s not here, he’s off with some floozy who doesn’t appreciate how wonderful and special and amazing and caring Jared is. Who doesn’t know how much he likes birds and singing. How Jared’s so nice and thoughtful and so patient. Richard never appreciated Jared. He’s the floozy. 

He hangs his head on the toilet bowl and wallows in despair. The cool porcelain calms him down. There’s a knock on the door. “Richard?” Jared’s voice is muffled behind the wood. “Aghhh.” Richard groans. “Richard, can I come in?” Jared asks. “Yeah.” Richard turns his head to look at the door. Jared steps into the bathroom and he looks perfect as always, an angel comes to save him, to pick him up off the floor and bring him back to sanity. “How was your date?” Richard asks. “Oh, she was nice.” Jared doesn’t elaborate. “how are you feeling?” “Gahh.” Richard plonks his head back down on the toilet bowl. “Awful.” “Oh? What happened?” Jared puts a hand on his back. “Monahan showed me an email I sent to Bighead where I said I was taking my girlfriend to the Apple Store.” “So?” “So, I’ve never had a girlfriend, Jared! The girlfriend I was referring to was my laptop!” He cries out in distress. “Oh, Richard.” Jared rubs his back. “I’m sure it’ll all work out.” “That’s easy for you to say?” “How do you mean?” “I mean, everything’s easy for you. Work, girls, being normal.” Jared doesn’t say anything. Richard’s not sure if he wants him to. 

Eventually, the day of the trial comes. Richard’s nervous as hell. He gets to the courtroom with an untied tie, he’s in the bathroom following a YouTube video because he was too much of a coward to ask Jared to tie it for him even though he knows Jared would have done it in a heartbeat. Now Gavin fucking Belson’s behind him tying his tie, teasing him, insulting him, it makes his blood boil. He can’t think of any comebacks. He mostly wishes Jared were with him. They make it through the arbitration and they’ve won and Richard can’t believe it. He rushes home to tell the boys because he sent them a text message too early and now they think they’ve lost when they actually won and he can’t let them delete the algorithm. He rushes home and he makes it and the algorithm isn’t deleted and Gilfoyle, Dinesh, and Erlich go into the backyard to pick the perfect lemon. 

Jared approaches him. “I told you it would all work out.” “Yeah, well.” Richard shrugs. “Only because Gavin Belson was stupid enough to include a non-compete clause in his contract. I mean - what was he thinking.? Even I know that’s illegal in California.” Richard scrubbed a hand over his face. “God, Jared. I just keep thinking. What if I had never hired you or I if I-” had told you how I feel. He doesn’t say the words, just lets the silence hang in the air. “Well, congratulations to you and to Pied Piper!” Jared turns to go outside and Richard almost lets him. “Wait.” “Yes?” Jared turns around again. Richard has the words bubbling in his mouth, sitting on the tip of his tongue. He opens his mouth and the other boys walk in. “Get me a drink please?” He says instead. “Of course!” 

“Stupid, so stupid.” He mumbles under his breath. He pulls off his tie and walks to his bedroom, shedding his jacket once he gets there and closes the door. He kicks the side of his desk which makes his foot hurt. He’s hopping around holding his foot in pain when Jared knocks and enters. “Richard?” His head pokes through the door. He sees Richard holding his foot. “Richard, are you okay?” He rushes forward, placing the drinks on the desk, and holds Richard in place. Richard leans against him. “Uh, yeah. I just banged my foot on the desk.” “Oh. Do you need some ice?” Jared asks. “No. I don’t think so. It’s already fading.” That’s a lie. He hit his foot pretty hard, given that it was on purpose. It’ll probably bruise. But he doesn’t tell Jared that. he doesn’t need his pity, his soft hands taking care of him, applying bruise cream, bandaging his foot. He can do that himself. But it is nice leaning against him, he leans against Jared a little more. Jared supports him, just like he always does. He feels this pressure in his gut. What is it? It’s guilt. He feels guilty that Jared does so much for him. His stomach churns. Jared does so much for him and all he does is burden him. Look at him now, comforting him. Richard’s stomach crumples. He falls to the ground. He forgets that Jared’s holding him. Jared falls with him. They’re laying on the ground. He’s laying on top of Jared on the ground and it’s too much for him. “Hey, Richard. It’s okay, it’ll be ok. Let me look at your foot.” Richard shakes his head. “No, no. It’s fine. I’m fine.” He tries to shake him off.” Jared peels off his sock and looks at Richard’s foot “Oh, Richard.” He gets up and goes to the bathroom to get the first and kit. Richard lies back in defeat. He’s too scared to look at his own foot. He glances at it and it’s already starting to bruise. He lies back down.  
Jared comes back in holding the first aid kit. He kneels by Richard’s feet and begins applying ointment. He doesn’t look. If he does, he knows what will happen. Jared opens a package of wraps and begins wrapping Richard’s foot. He does it gently, delicately, as if Richard were a baby bird in his care.  
When Jared’s done, he pats Richard’s ankle gently. “Thanks, Jared.” “Of course, captain. It’s the duty of a crew-mate to take care of his captain and the ship upon which he resides.” “Um, sure.” Richard tries to scoot away, to get out of the uncomfortable feeling crawling through his bones. Jared’s hand is still on his ankle.  
“Um, you can let go of me now.” “Oh, of course.” Jared let go. Richard tried to stand up but when he put pressure on his leg he crumpled immediately. Jared rushed forward and caught him.  
“Oh, no. Richard, you can’t stand! Let me help you to bed.” Jared picked Richard up in his arms like some sort of sexy fireman and deposited Richard in his bed without breaking a sweat. Richard couldn’t breathe. “Stay right there captain, I’ll get you some painkillers.” As soon as the door to his room closed he buried his face in his pillow and screamed his frustrations. How was he supposed to concentrate on anything now that he knew Jared could pick him up like he weighed nothing? He was frustrated. Jared came back and gave him, a glass of water and a pill. He took the pill and gave the glass back to Jared. “Thanks, Jared.” He said. “I think I’m just going to take a nap.” “Sleep, those little slices of death — how I loathe them.” Jared intoned poetically. “That’s nice.” “That’s Edgar Allan Poe.” Jared smiled. He left the room and Richard was left alone with his thoughts.

It was a week later and Richard’s foot had healed. He still hadn’t dealt with any of his feelings for Jared. Anytime he walked into a room and Jared was there, he walked out again. The others had noticed but Richard couldn’t handle being alone in a room with him. He was avoiding the living room of the incubator, choosing to stay in his room instead. He had his headphones on, listening to music that calmed his brain which is why he didn’t hear Jared’s knock on the door and why he was startled when Jared tapped him on the shoulder. “Oh my god. Jared, you scared me.” He took off his headphones. “What’s up?” “Well, Richard. I wanted to talk to you.” “Ok.” “I noticed that you’ve been avoiding me. Is there something that I did to make you uncomfortable?” “No, it’s not you Jared. It’s me.” Richard bit his lip. Might as well rip off the Band-Aid, right? “ I- I love you, Jared.” “He squeezed his eyes shut and looked away. He couldn’t bear to see the look of pity on Jared’s face. “Oh, Richard, I love you too!” “You do?” Richard said, shocked. Then he understood. Of course, Jared loved him, he told him he loved him every single day. He had to clarify before it turned into a cluster-fuck. “No, Jared. I don’t think you understand. I’m in love with you. As in I want to have a relationship with you. Do you understand?” “I do, Richard. I want to have a relationship with you too.” Richard’s brain froze. Jared wanted a relationship with him too? He couldn’t believe it. “Are you sure?” He asked. “Pretty sure.” “How long have you felt this way?” Richard asked. “For a while now. If I had to state a specific moment in time it’d probably be the moment you walked away from Gavin Belson’s offer.” Richard choked. “So long?” “Well, my feelings have just been building over time. But I suppose some part of me has always known it was love.” Jared smiled disarmingly. “Well, ok then.” Richard breathed deeply. “What happens now?” “What do you want to happen?” Jared asked him. “I … want to kiss you.” Richard decided. “Is that ok?” “Yes.” Jared’s smile grew brighter. He enveloped Richard in his arms and kissed him softly on the mouth. “That was- wow,” Richard said. “That was wow for me too.” “Hey- uh, Jared?” “Yes?” “Uh. Do you wanna maybe go on a date with me?” “I’d love to, Richard!” Jared’s smile was even bigger than before. “Just let me know when. Jared left the room and Richard sat down in his chair grinning to himself. He pushed the air in victory and swiveled a few times before going back to work. His smile didn’t fade for the rest of the day.

A week later, he took Jared to dinner in a nice restaurant. He wore the suit he wore when he went to court and Jared called him dapper and dashing and all sorts of other compliments that you might hear around the Victorian Era. Richard hemmed and hawed the whole time, nervous beyond belief. At the end of the night, he kissed Jared again, slowly, and smiled softly. Jared smiled too. He had a good feeling that it would all be alright.


End file.
